The Mono project has released Moonlight 2, the open source implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight. Moonlight allows Silverlight content to run on platforms that do not have an official Silverlight client, such as Linux and PowerPC Macs. Microsoft also expanded its patent agreement with Novell to cover all users of Moonlight, no matter the Linux version.

Some people prefer doing things this way. What I’m saying is that even in 2009, using a text editor is still equal in power to any other way and that this means _equality_. Anybody, in any country, with any tools they can afford can compete on the world stage. Can OSnews not see the importance of that!?

Fully agreed. My "IDE" has always been four xterms and Emacs. Add version control system and various other tools. I couldn't imagine anything that an IDE could give me.

And besides, most of the hype is just typical marketing crap. That these new "superior" tools give outstanding boost to "productivity", etc. Kind of the same thing as with the classical "Taylorism".

And while I've tried something like Visual Studio and agree that it is a fine tool, I still strongly dislike IDEs. Mainly more because of the implicit things these typically seem to imply; a collar around your neck and that kind of drag-and-drop programming. But maybe I shouldn't dislike IDEs themselves; maybe this is a direct result of badly designed and over-complex APIs that almost every new language seem to carry.

But obviously the bottom line: each to their own, bad carpenter blames his tools, etc.